Manufacturing

(WNY) Officially released data for the Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY, metro area suggest continuation of a decades-long trend of decline in manufacturing employment. This negative trend is possibly weakening, though, as an estimate for the overall number of people employed in manufacturing during 2013 on an annual basis is higher than a simple trend estimate would … Continue reading →

(NYS) The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRB-NY) released its monthly report [pdf] about results from the Empire State Manufacturing Survey on November 15. Their analysis shows that overall manufacturing conditions in NYS have weakened – the current general index is in fact negative, where a negative reading indicates worsening business conditions. The weakening … Continue reading →

(Buffalo, NY) Local politicians, business persons, and policy wonks have set their sites on (advanced) manufacturing as a pillar for local economic growth [pdf] – including growth of good-paying jobs. Unfortunately, wishful thinking tends to trump hard assessment of the facts. Whereas there has been an attempt to claim that employment in manufacturing is on … Continue reading →

(Analysis) Over the past couple of years, those supposedly in the “know” have spoken about a new phenomenon called “onshoring” – where production is brought back to the US – based on growing American competitiveness in high-skilled manufacturing, allegedly previously undetected inefficiencies from “offshoring”, and new sources of low-cost energy due to “fracking”. A quick … Continue reading →

(NYS) The monthly survey of manufacturers released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRB NY) on Apr. 15 shows that while the positive level for the general conditions index indicates manufacturing growth, there is a noticeable trend in the index – downwards, as federal stimulus spending recedes. Per the FRB NY: “The headline … Continue reading →

(Buffalo, NY) The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) and the United Steelworkers cosponsored a town-hall meeting on the evening of April 8, 2013 at Asbury Hall in the converted church on Delaware Avenue known as “Babeville”. Labor unions, manufacturers, government, education, and a policy research institute all were represented, some taking part in panel discussions. … Continue reading →